§ 72. Mr. Loganasked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Education whether it is the intention of his Department to maintain the deduction of £15,000 per month from Liverpool education grants; what are the total deductions to 1945 date; and what arrangements have been made to implement the Education Act, 1936, in Liverpool?
Mr. LindsayThe Board's decision to withhold £15,000 from each of the monthly instalments of substantive grant for elementary education, owing to the failure of the local education authority to deal adequately with the problem of public elementary school supply in the Dockside area, has been taken in order to avoid the over-payment of grant should the Board find themselves obliged at the end of the current financial year to declare the authority in default and to make a deduction from the grant—in which case the Board would have to report the matter to Parliament. I cannot anticipate the decision which the Board may take. The total amount of grant withheld to date is £75,000. If the hon. Member in the last part of his question refers to the matter of grants for voluntary senior schools under Section 8 of the Education Act, 1936, the answer is that the Liverpool authority have decided to make no such grants.
§ Mr. LoganIs it the intention of the Government if Liverpool should fail at the end of the year to take action to bring them to this House as defaulters?